Ryan Reynolds Talks ‘Deadpool/Wolverine’ Movie Crossover Potential

Published 1 year ago
by
Andrew Dyce
, Updated August 18th, 2014 at 1:34 pm,

Comic book fans may be waiting to see if Deadpool can truly be brought to the screen in a fitting fashion, but for now, 20th Century Fox has their eyes set on comic book characters with more ‘superhero’ credibility. But with X-Men: Days of Future Past bringing time travel plot devices and reuniting fan favorite characters, and The Wolverine taking a darker direction, could the Deadpool movement be growing?

Ryan Reynolds is itching for a chance to play the mutated mercenary, and all the film needs is Fox’s go-ahead. An opportunity to see Wade Wilson pop up in Fox’s upcoming wave of reboots could help get the ball rolling, but according to Reynolds, fans shouldn’t count on it. But trust us, it’s for the best possible reasons.

Reynolds explained in an interview with Empire that while a guest appearance as the ‘Merc with a Mouth’ would be a fun addition to an ensemble cast, the chances of seeing Deadpool before a standalone movie aren’t exactly high:

“I love that kind of stuff. I loved doing Wolverine ’cause the movie wasn’t on my shoulders. I got to kind of come in and insult everybody. It was a lot of fun actually. I love Deadpool and there is a script that’s in development. But it’s so, so far into the R-rated zone… it’s a nearly NC-17 world and I just don’t know if the studio would ever risk their reputation doing it. We’ve been developing it and we would never wanna do it unless you could it that R-rated way, so…”

The stakes would be particularly high for a hard-R-rated ‘superhero’ movie for obvious reasons, but that might be changing. Initial apprehension from Fox is understandable given the mass appeal of movies like X-Men: First Class or The Avengers, but the ongoing home video success of Dredd(and the building support for a grittier Daredevil reboot) are starting to prove that adult comic book fans might, in fact, be interested in adult comic book movies. Ironically enough, Marvel comic book films first broke into the mainstream with Blade, the 1998 Wesley Snipes film that was itself Rated-R.

“Deadpool’s got a similar tone almost. They wrote it and they developed it as well and, you know, it’s sitting there. You could do it for a pittance compared to the modern sort of epic scale superhero movies, but it’s about a guy who knows he’s in a movie and knows he’s in a comic book who is deeply mentally disturbed and hyper violent. And that’s tough to get by a studio.”

One major obstacle to green-lighting even a low-budget film is convincing Fox that the payoff outweighs the risk; one of the larger risks (or upsides) being that, as Reynolds has explained previously, Deadpool is not a superhero. He may spend time among them, and be found in comic books, but convincing a studio that an antihero mercenary shouldn’t be made out to be a superhero – when superhero films are the most bankable – isn’t going to be easy.

Is there any chance to see Deadpool have some sort of set-up or crossover with either The Wolverine or X-Men: Days of Future Past?

“I don’t think you can do that, because that character would really sully that whole world. The script is one rewrite away from Deadpool jumping across the desk at the studio executive and attacking him.

“But I’ve always wanted to do the movie if only because Deadpool would get to do his own movie trailer. So that’s a thing that we were dying to do and we would love to be a part of that. I don’t know how it would fit though, no. In the current iteration of the script, it doesn’t address Wolverine – though it does address Deadpool’s appearance in Wolverine. Deadpool was not happy with Deadpool in Wolverine. He has a sort of a WTF!? moment with that.”

For now, fans can only hold out hope that those entrusted with the Deadpool adaptation stick to their guns. An NC-17 movie may be the most fitting for the source material, but that’s going to be a tough proposition for Fox to approve. What do you think the odds are of a movie ever doing justice to Wade Wilson? Would you settle for a softer version if it meant seeing Reynolds in the role? Sound off in the comments.

We’ll keep you updated on Deadpool if further details or updates are released.

It is a movie that needs to be made and done CORRECTLY w/ R.R. as the main character. It also needs to be at the very least R rated. You can’t just base the box office sales into the mix anymore. There is life after the show. DVD and digital downloads are through the roof being that it’s so expensive to go to the theater. Seriously. Just make it happen.

Deadpool was given Wolverine’s healing factor as part of an experiment in the Weapon X program but because Wade had cancer at the time of his procedure, it means his body and mind are constantly healing themselves, leading to his mental disorder and psychotic breakdown as well as him being able to recover from decapitation.

Why not take what happens in ‘DOFP’ and use that as a jumping-in point to a ‘Deadpool’ standalone movie? Okay maybe that has its issues but it would make a great in-joke. I can imagine him talking to the audience at the beginning telling us that we only got this shot at his great story because of what happened in that other retro-story.

I think it has a real chance to do at least 4X the required budget to make it good even with an R-rating. Here again Fox seems blind to the past not seeing what ‘BLADE’ did. As far as a Wernick and Reese script I don’t know. I wasn’t all that impressed with ‘Zombieland.’ I think they left loads of potential off the page with that movie…

I think if push came to shove, the Deadpool film wouldn’t need a huge budget. If they really had to, they could have a few over-the-top moments or the character breaking the 4th wall (or a “movie set wall”) and have the violence on par with a ‘Commando’ or “Expendables’ flavor.

Ryan Reynolds is starting to sound a little desperate. Anywho, I’d love to see a Deadpool movie by the way. I don’t get it, Boys Don’t Cry & Kids were NC-17 and they made a sh*tload of money, so i’m really not sensing the problem.

I don’t see why a Deadpool movie has to be marketed as a superhero movie. You don’t need a superhero movie to make money at the box office. Deadpool is kickass, and if they advertise it that way, they’re gonna get their money. Stuff like Taken and Die Hard are sold on the premise that the characters just do badass stuff. So wouldn’t the same kind of movie, only with an immortal fourth wall-breaking mercenary antihero be even more marketable?

I always thought that instead of a solo Deadpool movie, do a Deadpool and Cable movie. It would be much more bankable and would put Deadpool where he is best, with another character. Bring in Stephen Lang as gruff, serious Cable and Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and you got a mutant buddy cop extravaganza. You could have Black Box, Mister Sinister or Stryfe as the villain and throw in a Wolverine cameo somewhere. Boom, do it Fox!

This movie needs to get made. Id see it no matter what. my ticket price is covered, the studio needs to know there are people willing to see this. look at all the deadpools at any and every comic con, that should be an indicator of the built in fan base this already has.

I thought the Wade Wilson character was portrayed pretty well in the beginning of Wolverine, but the monstrosity they turned the character into really was mystifying to say the least (I actually like Wolverine for the most part, too). They could have just had Weapon X WITH Wilson’s powers added like all the other mutant powers that were added. I don’t know a whole lot about Deadpool, but what little I DO know about the character has Ryan Reynolds written ALL over it. I would love to see this happen.

please FOX…for the love of all that is right with this premise..please make this movie!!! For gods sake you have a huge fan base of a great anti hero that is fresh and DIFFERENT from everything else and most of all FUNNY. MAKE THIS MOVIE FOR THE FANS!!! heres an idea…release that test footage online on youtube for a week and see what happens!! youtube go boom!

I still do not see a Deadpool film doing any better than other comparable characters unless it is just so stellar that it makes a big splash. Aside from the fact the character is C-B level at best, there is the issue of who or what will his antagonist since the characters own motivations are ambiguous.

Then there is the issue of Reynolds, he just does not seem like enough of a draw to push a character that is not that well known. They have been trying to make this guy into a comic book franchise star since the Hannibal King role in Blade and his Hal Jordan will stay in the minds of movie goers for awhile.

Iron Man has longevity on it’s side even though the character has not been popular in the last 20 years. The success of the film has a lot to do with being the right movie at the right time and the drawing power of Robert Downey Jr.

And Reynolds may get huge reactions on television interviews, but the box office numbers of movies he has headlined have not proven he can pull in the type of numbers they would want if they invest a lot of money in a film.

I was just thinking though, the massive popularity the guy gets lately could be capitalised by the studios. I think his lower box office numbers is partly because they don’t really advertise his movies as well as they could.

He was on Alan Carr’s show recently and while the audience screamed the place down for him, the host admitted he’d never heard of half of his movies but when he saw them as research, he loved them.

I am not sure what type of show Alan Carr is, but depending on the demographic of the audience members in attendance those reactions may not translate into sales for this type of film. If Reynolds’ appeal lies in female tweens and teenagers then a rate-R comic book movie with irreverent humor might not make any money if it depends in part on that cash source.

And the low box office does not have much to do with the studios not advertising the films. His last few movies have had pretty good coverage with Green Lantern getting a huge ad campaign.

It seems like a no brainier script to me. We have nearly 3 supero movies a year, what would ease the tension more then an ANTI hero movie. Especially with the mess that is Fox’s super hero stable. Why not have producers pitch it to Fox as a satire movie like those stupid ones they keep making. But make it much more high brow with Tarantino style violence. You don’t even have to pay for much CGI. Pay Reynolds + good action/comedy script + decent under dog director = print money. How many fans came away loving jokers sadistic humor. Think of all the “disappearing pencil” tricks this movie would have. And who didn’t walk away loving watching Hit-Girl. This movie is EASY money.

I’d rather to see hem as Dead Pool in X-men Days of Future Past joining with other characters and defeat Apocalypse and Sentinels, making him so sure to interview again that he can get a large chance in X-men Days of Future Past

I would love to see him in X-Men DOFP 2014 with wearing mask becuase Bryan wanted to do every X-men characters in his new movie should wear costume with each characters and I would love to see him with big role in X-men DOFP. I’m still wanted to see Famke Janssen as White Phoenix of the Crown in X-men DOFP.

Believe me, the last studio that you want to make a proper Deadpool movie is Fox. The character was also severely miscast in that horrible Origins movie. I hope the rights revert back to Marvel like Daredevil did.

Blade one and two were ahead of the comic movie craze and benefited from being obscure enough that they could get away with whatever they wanted. It made a good profit in relation to it’s budget, and ironically now only gets mentioned when people are trying to advocate for R-rated comic book films.

The Punisher was an okay movie, but didn’t do very well even though it is probably the most straight-forward comic character there is. Warzone was just awful, even though I liked Ray Stevens look for the character.

Kick-Ass was a sleeper hit and probably did well for the same reason Blade originally did, a lot of people did not know it was comic. Now that they have a box office number to live up to the pressure is on for the sequel to do well.

Dredd was a good movie that did horrible at the box office and evens out the argument against R-rated movies. The one thing people tend to forget is that unless the film is good enough to stand on it’s own, not having that under 18 audience to count on can make or break some types of films.

People need to stop fooling themselves, with all their little theories as to why they didn’t like the Wolverine Deadpool. People in the USA have a tough time with seriousness, AKA DRAMA. God forbid people hacking other people with adamantium claws, bone fragments or blasts that can pulverize concrete, ever get exposed to, oh, I dunno, BLOOD or serious after-effects of such shenanigans. In other words, they have to have most of their superhero movies with rampaging comedy, throughout. The Wolverine Deadpool was too serious, and too lethal. They want to dummy-up the character, even in live action, by having him reincarnated as his comic book stand-up comedy character.
I hate to say it, but it looks like DC comics, even though I originally preferred Marvel characters, is the last bastion of hope for companies taking their own superheroes seriously. Comic books are one thing, but in live action, you need to start demonstrating what would happen if this stuff REALLY went on. Deadpool, or any combination of him, would NOT go on. Guess I’ll go watch the new Batmans again. Maybe Deadpool will show up in one of those, and proceed to get his unreal, comedic butt hammered by serious characters. Desperate for your characters to break the fourth wall? Go watch Spongebob. His friends do it every now and then.

I like how people are saying it “at least” needs to be R. Sorry, there is no other rating. NC-17 movies get made so rarely, and when they do, they don’t get played in the cinema. If it has to be NC17, it aint happening. R would work just fine though.

It needs to keep bat least the R rating for the movie to be successful with the fan base. This is a very vocal fan base that can be the best kind of free advertising, or kill the movie immediately. I would rather keep true to the character (and I really do want Reynolds in the time, he’s perfect for it) than have a big name actor. Think about the hardcore ‘Punisher:War Zone’ vs the silly one with John Travolta…